Sheikh Hasina and her 'foreign friends':The drama

Ahead of the country’s Independence Day, Bangladesh has awarded another batch of around 69 individuals and organisations, including 13 from Pakistan on Sunday in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the Liberation War in 1971. They include Cuban revolutionary and former president Fidel Castro, former British prime minister the late Harold Wilson and former chief minister of West Bengal the late Jyoti Basu.
This was the sixth phase of awarding of foreign friends and organisations after conferring of ‘Bangladesh Freedom Honour’ posthumously on Indira Gandhi on July 25, 2011.
The President had been giving out these awards in the previous phases, but since Zillur Rahman died recently, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina attended the ceremony as chief guest and handed over the honours. This time, 203 foreign friends were invited to receive the awards, but only 69 could attend or were represented by someone close to them. More than 200 'foreign friends' have already being awarded the recognitions since the process began last year.

It is mentionable that such awards come at a time when the country is going through a difficult time in its history, notably in the human rights arena. In this regard it is mentionable that in recent weeks, more than a hundred people were killed in clashes that erupted after peaceful demonstrators were attacked and fired upon by security forces and ruling party cadres. The protesters have been demanding the unconditional release of Delwar Hossain Sayedee, who was given the death sentence on the 28th of February for his alleged role in perpetrating war crimes against the innocent Bengali population throughout the liberation war of 1971. His lawyers, along with a plethora of both international personalities and organizations such as HRW, Transparency International, Amnesty and the United Nations, have expressed their concern over recurring irregularities and demanded a fair and just trial for the accused.

To any keen eyed observer, it won't require rocket science to understand motives of the government behind such awards, especially in light of recent events. The failures of this government have been sky high. It has set records in human rights abuses such as political killings, forced disappearances and oppression of the media and the political opposition. Prices of food and fuel have risen beyond people's means and corruption has become part of the character of the service provider. Police have been used as a tool of oppression. Criminals have been provided impunity. The President has even pardoned the same criminal twice. 

If one looks at the trend over past weeks, one will realize that the political situation in the country has been going down a manhole. Foreign relations have deteriorated. The government has desperately tried to fight back the tide of its waning popularity, and has cooked up the 'foreign friends' drama as a result, even letting its anti-Pakistan mania/obsession lie below the radar for a bit. The hollowness of such awards is evident considering that even today, Bangladesh is host to many freedom fighters who are still subject to discrimination; who still live in destitution; whose families still reside in dilapidation.  Its high time the government of Sheikh Hasina sets aside such self serving interests and listens to the voice of people for a change.

Inu, Minister of (Bakwas) Information

Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu is notorious for his attention seeking character. I once remember the man suddenly walking into a seminar I was attending on campus in a prestigious university at Dhaka when Inu suddenly entered the venue and later demanded that he be given floor. Those were the days of the caretaker government under Fakhruddin when politicians used to be on the run, in fear for their lives. Times have changed, and with it the character of politicians.

Hasanul Haq Inu has kept up the facade of an immaculate and strong worded politician while endeavoring to discredit his political opposition at every moment possible. Not to be outdone by his sneering political buddy Suranjit Sengupta or the rock faced Know-it-All Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Inu has tried to keep up a high profile among government officialdom since taking office in September 2012.

He has regularly called press conferences to outline policies of the government in general and policies of his ministry in specific on current issues. Sadly, such press conferences of his have actually been flooded more by rhetoric than information. The press conferences have underlined his deep hate for the political opposition in Bangladesh, and his disproportionate remarks and opinions have made headlines, less for their objectivity, and infinitely more for their pure outlandishness. Then again, it could just be another class act to seek the attention of those who matter in order to gain another term in office in perhaps bigger and better positions.

His comments after taking office reflect such tendencies. Take the example of him leading the pack in saying that existing law could be used to ban Jamaat and Shibir, despite comments by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the need for ministers to refrain from making such comments. Inu has been on the forefront in inflammatory criticism of Khaleda Zia, leader of the opposition, calling her the unofficial ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami. In addition to his rantings, he is regularly heard by media and countrymen to refer to Jamaat as a terrorist outfit. Unable to do anything constructive recently, he has resorted to allegations that BNP is involved with 'media terrorism'. In his spree for attention grabbing, he has made statements such as 'Government won't tolerate abuse of Islam', in which he has given his own twisted views on the subject, saying that it was not the atheist bloggers who were responsible for abusing Islam through their inflammatory and defaming remarks on the Prophet and Islam in general. According to him, abuse of Islam was being carried out by media who had uncovered such information, specifically Amardesh, Naya Diganta and the Daily Sangram. Accordingly, they rightfully required to be banned. But oops, Inu had to hold back his words there, regrettably informing media journalists that current laws did not yet allow so. In a bid to add some spice to the political vendetta he initiated, Inu in his latest statements, asked Khaleda Zia to hand him lists of true war criminals and true atheists. 

Khaleda Zia, to her credit, has refrained from answering such bizzare and childish queries.

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami's Reply to the Statement of Human Rights Watch on 1 March, 2013.

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’s Reply to the Statement of Human Rights Watch on 1 March, 2013.

Wednesday, 20th March, 2013

The Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (“Jamaat”) notes with dismay that Human Rights Watch (“HRW”) has alleged that its supporters have been involved in ‘lethal’ and ‘unacceptable’ acts violence. HRW has also indicated that Jamaat should issue a public statement to its supporters to stop the violence. It is understood that in issuing the statement HRW relied on newspaper reports from Bangladesh.
Jamaat would like to clarify that its members have not instigated the recent spate of violent clashes with the police. Nor are the protests all over the country organized by Jamaat. The vast majority of protests are by ordinary Muslims who have come out on to the streets to protest the death sentence passed by a controversial International Crimes Tribunal against Mr. Delwar Hossain Sayedee. Sayedee, as an Islamic thinker, has a popularity beyond his political identity.
Jamaat would like to point out that due to political repression and mass arrests of its members and followers, its political activities have been severely restricted. On 19 September 2011, its Central and Metropolitan Offices were forcibly closed by the police and have remained closed ever since.  Its Ameer (i.e. President) is in jail. There are warrants of arrest issued against the Acting Ameer and he is now in hiding to avoid custodial torture. The party’s Secretary General is in jail. The two people who were subsequently appointed (one after the other) to replace him have also been arrested and are now in jail. The third person appointed is now avoiding arrest in fear of custodial torture.  Of the 7 Assistant Secretary Generals, 6 are in jail. 12 of the 16 member Executive Committee have been arrested. Of the 6 City Ameers in the 6 metropolitan cities, 2 is in jail, while the remaining 4 are in hiding.
At the grass-root level, the situation is far worse. 54 of the District Ameers in the 64 districts of Bangladesh have been arrested. The rest have warrants of arrest issued against them. All of the sub district (or Upazilla) Ameers in the 493 Sub Districts of Bangladesh have warrants issued against them and are now in hiding. As such the leadership of Jamaat is either in jail or is living in fear of arrest and torture by the police. Jamaat no longer has effective control over its members and supporters. Even the issuer of this rejoinder is evading arrest in fear of custodial torture. As such it is inconceivable that Jamaat is in a position to instigate the clashes all over the country which began on 28 February, 2013.
A number of anti-Jamaat newspapers such the Daily Star, the Prothom Alo and the online news portal BDBNEWS24 have been making  unsubstantiated allegations that Jamaat has been burning temples. These newspapers have been supporting the call for banning Jamaat. Moreover, they have indiscriminately described all protestors against the verdict by the International Crimes Tribunal as members/supporters of Jamaat. The news provided by most media outlets in Bangladesh are now biased towards one view or the other. Independent and fair reporting is almost no longer possible by the local media.
It should be mentioned here that although 3 madrasahs (Islamic religious schools) have been burnt in northern Bangladesh, Jamaat has encouraged restraint amongst its supporters not to highlight the issue. Jamaat has also issued a statement that it was not involved in any attack on temples.
Jamaat would like to take this opportunity of informing HRW that around 120 people have been killed over the last 4 days, half of whom were killed on 28 February. Five of the dead were policemen. The rest were innocent civilians including women and children, all of whom died from bullet wounds. Women protested with their brooms and brought their children along. Live ammunition was used to disperse crowds, as the government was keen to show that the trials are universally acknowledged as fair. The only weapons used against the police (who were dressed in full riot gear) were brick bats. As such the police action was unnecessary and disproportionate. In many cases (reported on a number of television channels), the police were only attacked by angry mobs only after they had run out of ammunition.
Such action by the police is a continuation of the custodial torture and killing of member and supporters of Jamaat. Over the past couple of months the police have been randomly picking up member/supporters of Jamaat and have shot at them at point blank range (while in their custody) in full view of the media. The images of such point-black shooting have been documented and archived and are now available on the internet .
These custodial shootings have been authorized by the Police Administration including the Police Commissioner for Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Benzir Ahmed.  Mr. Ahmed had in late 2012 ordered his officers to shoot Jamaat men on sight. This has been reported in a number of national daily newspapers including Ittefaq  Bangladesh Pratidin , Naya Diganta , Amar Desh  and Manabzamin 

Although we note that HRW has objected to the use of the word genocide, the scale (120 dead in 4 days) and nature of the police actions in over 20 districts of Bangladesh clearly indicate that murders as crime against humanity have taken place. Supporters and followers of Jamaat and opponents of the International Crimes Tribunal have been systematically targeted by the law enforcement agencies. The police have been selecting members of Jamaat and shooting them. All this should be seen against the backdrop of the government move towards eliminating Jamaat and its institutions, to which HRW has referred to in its statement.
We hope international organizations such the HRW will not shy away from correctly identifying the action of the police in Bangladesh as a crime against humanity.  We believe that any delay by international community in making a proper assessment of the situation will encourage the police to be more violent and continue with their actions in violation of national and international law.
Finally, we thank HRW for protesting against the violations of human rights in Bangladesh.